February 25, 2011

Job 25-26
Bildad uses the glory of God to urge Job to repent. He states a few obvious things about God’s glory hoping they will motivate Job to admit his sin and cause him to turn from it. The problem is that in this context, Job’s adverse circumstances are not the judgment as a result of a specific sin that Job has done. How can you change your mind about sin that you have not committed? God does not require a false repentance of us. He does not ask us to sign some blanket confession statement that absolves us of all sin. That is not repentance.
True repentance can only come as a result of the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. He said, “of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” Had Job not been trusting in God? Was he therefore, experiencing the judgment of God? Not in this instance. What would be the standard of righteousness, by which he would be called to change his mind? When Jesus was on the earth, the standard of righteousness was visible. It was embodied in His own life. We could have simply called upon Him when there was any question. But He does not dwell upon the earth in physical form. How can we know what righteousness is? Only the Spirit of God can bring conviction as His word is spoken or read through us. That is why faith comes by hearing of the word. Then when the Spirit brings conviction of sin and righteousness, judgment becomes obvious to the sinner under conviction. If then the sinner will change his mind concerning sin, then he can receive the fullness of God’s forgiveness. He can choose to embrace Jesus fully for the forgiveness of sins and the enablement to live in righteousness.
While Job did not have this complete New Testament understanding of repentance and faith, He did trust God for the forgiveness of his sin and the power to live a godly life. He was not suffering because of specific sin that he had committed. He was suffering because he was born in and participated in a fallen world. As the most righteous man on the face of this world, he was participating in a cosmic struggle to see if the glory of God was worth suffering for. Satan had challenged God on the value of God’s glory to Job. And how does Job respond:
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?
We cannot completely understand His power, but we can change our minds about our sin and choose to obey Him. It then becomes His power to change our sinful lives. Do I understand that? Not completely. But what I do understand of Him, I will cling to Him and let His power flow through me. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john